Winter NaNo: Crunch Time!

We are in the middle of week three of Winter NaNo! Since I accepted the challenge to write thirty-two thousand words in four weeks, I figured that breaks down to 1143 words per day. I have to have a visual to keep myself on track, so I keep a calendar on the desktop of my laptop. Each day is marked with the total number of words I need to have written by the end of the day.  So yesterday I needed to have 21,717 words, and by the time I closed my Scrivener program, my manuscript had 21,792. I am on track!

Going into the challenge, I thought I was prepared. I had my characters fleshed out and knew their internal and external conflicts. I had planned my major plot points, and knew how I wanted them to meet. So on February 10, I started writing, starting at the beginning of the story. And for a week or so I kept writing. I'm not a linear writer. Sometimes I get tired of where I am and skip to the end. Or I get inspired to write the Black Moment, when they main characters fear "all is lost." So I just skip to that part and write away. Later on, when the words are all there, I can go back and adjust. I'll probably find there are all sorts of plot holes and inconsistencies. And if I don't find them, my critique partners and/or my proofreaders will find them.

I once mentioned to my family that I read books this way too. I start at the beginning, read a few chapters to see if I like it, then skip to the last quarter of the book and read the ending. And then I go back and read it to find out how they get there. They all looked at me like they were ready to have me committed. Oh, well. They'll get their chance someday. In the meantime I'll continue to do it this way. 

Back to writing. With a little over a week to go, I think I'm doing well. I have the "meat and bones" of a new story here. Next week Saturday, I'll look back and start editing, and hopefully I'll have something I can start grooming, and eventually submit!

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My mom is back from Florida. Since my publisher doesn't do print copies of books that are shorter than 50K, I made her a printout of Aegean Intrigue so she can read it in her easy chair. Hope she likes it.

Treading Water

            It's been a rough few weeks. I've been working lots of extra hours at one "part time" job, and trying to keep up grading papers for the two classes I teach. And GRRWG began its annual Novel Writing Challenge, fondly referred to as Winter NaNo. I committed to write thirty-two thousand words on a new project in twenty-eight days. That's 1143 words per day. Today is the fifth day of the challenge and so far I'm on track. But if I keep up this pace with my other jobs, I'll burn out quickly. I'm cautiously optimistic things will be better next week. Anyway, I'm treading water here!

            So because I'm kind of tired, I'm going to refer you to some writing I've done on other blogs. Astraea Press authors are a wonderfully supportive group, especially when one of us has a new release. So these are all people who have featured me and my new book. Click on the author's name to see the post:

On February 4, I was a guest at JF Jenkins' blog. Well, actually the main characters from Aegean Intrigue were guests. They did a couples' interview. If you look at the blog you'll see pictures of Alex and Francie (or at least what they looked like in my mind as I wrote).

            On February 8 Lindsay Downs had me as a guest at her blog. We chatted about my trip to Greece and how it inspired me to write Aegean Intrigue.

            Nell Dixon was kind enough to feature Aegean Intrigue at her blog on February 11. 

            I've got other guest interviews coming up later this month, so I'll probably post a notice here directing you to them. In the meantime, take a look at the "eternity scarf" I put together using directions I found online and some more fabric I had lying around. I got my daughter to model it and see if she'd wear it. It got a lukewarm reaction. Maybe she'll get it, maybe not…

            I also made a little fleece hat for my youngest granddaughter. The other seven grandkids got their hats for Christmas, but Bridget's hat needed to be taken in a bit to fit. It's still a little loose but she doesn't seem to mind wearing it!